Police certain released photos are of Kalogeropoulos’ murderers

By Iole Damaskinos and Nikolaos Prakas

Police are certain that the image released of two men shows the murderers of Thanasis Kalogeropoulos, who was gunned down in Limassol earlier in the week, Limassol Police Chief Lefteris Kyriacou said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, police published a photo of two men on a motorcycle pegged to be a Honda Hornet, who authorities identified as the killers of Kalogeropoulos, who was killed on Monday in broad daylight on Amathountos Avenue in Yermasogia.

Two gangland murders have rocked Cyprus this week, those of Thanasis Kalogeropoulos and Alexis Mavromichalis, aka Alexoui, a day later.

Speaking on Thursday, Kyriacou said that police are certain the image of the two men, shows the killers, who after murdering Kalogeropoulos and burning an escape car, fled on a motorbike.

He added that police are continuing their investigations, scouring CCTV footage from a wide area. The team, he said, are searching through footage before and after the murder occurred.

“After this evaluation and research of the CCTV footage, the two suspects were found, who fled the scene on a motorbike, immediately after burning the car used during the murder of Kalogeropoulos,” he said.

He said police released the image to aid in the investigation and get help form the public in identifying the assailants.

Some information that has already been received by the Limassol police department has already been evaluated, he said, but it proved a dead end.

However, he added that information is always incoming and that it is being evaluated.

“We are examining all the possible paths [of the assailants] and much CCTV footage has been received and is being received, in an attempt to determine the exact path, they followed,” he said.

Regarding the motorcycle, he said that they are also currently examining picture and information being received about the make and brand of motorcycle.

He added that the investigation is large-scale and that the teams working on it are trying to get as much witness testimony as possible.

Commenting on the motives, he said that police are looking into old files and going over information they have, but they have not been able to establish a clear motive.

Asked during a press conference if Kalogeropoulos’ murder is connected to the murder of Alexis Mavromichalis a day later, he said that it is one of the scenarios being examined.

Commenting on the murders later in the day, Justice Minister Anna Procopiou said that police are conducting their investigations with “complete seriousness and discretion”.

Both Mavromichalis and Kalogeropoulos were known to authorities. Kalogeropoulos was gunned downed after dropping his daughter off at school and just before going for his morning swim.

Mavromichalis was shot while on his second-floor apartment balcony in Nicosia from a suspected sniper, who is reported to have been located 45 metres away.

After being shot, Mavromichalis was rushed to hospital, where he succumbed to his wound and died.

Earlier, police spokeswoman Marina Constantinou commenting on Kalogeropoulos said that the crime bears the marks of professionals, and it is not ruled out that the perpetrators may have been foreign hitmen.

Constantinou said the photo has been established as depicting suspects fleeing from the site where a car was found burning in Limassol after the first crime.

Police have asked for anyone who knows anything that may help identify the persons depicted to contact Limassol Police on 25805057, the citizen’s line on 1460, or their nearest police station.